It was early hence the title had a question mark at the end. Today’s post however has a more assertive full stop. And the reason is the incredibly insightful academic article below by respected Shaykh Riyadh Nadwi, director of Oxford Cross-Culture Research Institute and student of one of the greatest scholars and historians of this Ummah of the past century, Shaykh Abu ‘l Hasan Ali Nadwi (Rahimahullah).

Granted the article is long, and below is merely a portion of the article which has been reproduced. However I would request the readers to follow the link and read an article which forces one to think critically and mentally readjust to world reality.

Owing to the fog of multiple and conflicting pictures painted to depict Barack Obama, confusion remains in the minds of many as to what the new President of America really represents and where exactly his loyalties lie. As the weeks and months of his presidency pass by, inconsistent messages and contradictory positions on major issues have become a standard feature of the regime. An executive order is signed to close Guantanamo Bay and end the military trials of its inmates, but then the military trials are revived and Guantanamo remains open. Renditions are ruled out in public, but then ruled in by stealth. The war in Iraq was to be ended in 2009, but instead of any substantial withdrawal of troops, we have the construction of the “small-city-larger-than-the-Vatican” sized US Embassy in Baghdad. Indeed, war continues, as in the previous administration, to feature at the top of the White House agenda, with thousands more troops committed to war in Afghanistan – but then Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize An insightful young Muslim sent me her reaction to the prize in these words:

“The Nobel Peace Prize has always seemed in danger of being more ridiculous than sublime. Who can forget such former laureates as that bastion of realpolitik Henry Kissinger or Yitzak ‘Break their bones’ Rabin? Despite this, I listened with a mixture of astonishment and disbelief when I heard the news that Barack Hussein Obama was this year’s recipient. It seems strange indeed that aside from his desk job in the White House this year’s recipient is also the Commander in Chief of the world’s largest army, which is currently fighting wars in two separate countries, and presides over the largest defense budget in the world, which is estimated to total somewhere between $925 billion and $1.14 trillion in 2009. This is not to mention the 40,000 extra US troops he has pledged to send into Afghanistan or the tacit support he has given the despicable practice of secret rendition. This award seems all the more astonishing when one takes into account the type of individual that Alfred Nobel had in mind for the recipient of the award, namely it should be awarded to ‘the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.’ It seems that in 2009 we are closer than ever to 1984: ‘Then the face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH‘…..